Offensive Security Certified Professional

Introduction

The Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) certification is a highly respected and hands-on certification for individuals seeking to prove their proficiency in ethical hacking and penetration testing.

Offered by Offensive Security, the OSCP is renowned for its rigorous and practical exam, designed to assess the real-world skills required to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in diverse environments.

Learning Objectives

The OSCP certification focuses on the following key learning objectives:

1. Penetration Testing Methodologies: Understand and apply various penetration testing methodologies, including reconnaissance, enumeration, exploitation, and post-exploitation techniques.

2. Network Penetration Testing: Conduct network penetration tests to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in networks, systems, and applications.

3. Vulnerability Analysis: Identifying, exploiting, and post-exploitation analysis of security vulnerabilities in systems.

4. Web Application Exploitation: Assessing and exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications, including common issues like SQL injection and cross-site scripting.

5. Password Attacks: Utilizing various password cracking techniques to compromise user credentials and escalate privileges.

6. Buffer Overflow Exploits: Understanding and executing buffer overflow exploits to gain control over target systems.

7. Exploit Development: Developing custom exploits to target specific vulnerabilities and enhance penetration testing capabilities.

8. Report Writing: Effectively communicating findings and recommendations through comprehensive penetration testing reports.

9. Buffer Overflow Exploitation: Understand and exploit buffer overflow vulnerabilities to gain control of a target system.

10. Tools Usage Utilize a variety of tools and techniques commonly used in penetration testing, such as Metasploit, Nmap, Burp Suite, and others

Exam Attempts

While I have made two nearly successful attempts at the OSCP exam, each try has been a valuable learning experience, pinpointing areas for improvement and demonstrating my resolve to conquer challenges in the quest for excellence.

I paused my OSCP journey due to waning interest in Cyber Security, opting instead to pursue a career in Data Science and Machine Learning.

Even though I’ve transitioned to a different field, I maintain a strong understanding of Cyber Security, with knowledge of its concepts and methodologies, particularly in ethical hacking and penetration testing.